Description
Parallel forces are not a new development and have been extensively deployed in responding to West African conflicts, such as Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. In contexts where a UN operation is deployed, parallel forces can help respond to crises and undertake activities beyond what the UN is able to or is willing to perform. Existing scholarship has explored factors behind the decision to deploy parallel forces, but there has been little examination of why host governments choose to terminate their deployment. This paper looks at the expulsion of MINUSMA to argue that the push for robust peacekeeping has increasingly made host governments see the value of UN peace operations not in terms of civilian peacebuilding, but rather in terms of militarized extension of state authority. At the same time, the liberal character of UN peace operations sits at odds with the priorities of authoritarian governments. The deployment of parallel forces is therefore a means by which host governments can audition potential alternatives that can meet their desire for regime security.
